Soros stated in his piece, "The Muslim Brotherhood's cooperation with Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who is seeking to run for president, is a hopeful sign that it intends to play a constructive role in a democratic political system. As regards contagion, it is more likely to endanger the enemies of the United States - Syria and Iran - than our allies, provided that they are willing to move out ahead of the avalanche.

The main stumbling block is Israel. In reality, Israel has as much to gain from the spread of democracy in the Middle East as the United States has. But Israel is unlikely to recognize its own best interests because the change is too sudden and carries too many risks. And some U.S. supporters of Israel are more rigid and ideological than Israelis themselves. Fortunately, Obama is not beholden to the religious right, which has carried on a veritable vendetta against him. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is no longer monolithic or the sole representative of the Jewish community. The main danger is that the Obama administration will not adjust its policies quickly enough to the suddenly changed reality.

I am, as a general rule, wary of revolutions. But in the case of Egypt, I see a good chance of success. As a committed advocate of democracy and open society, I cannot help but share in the enthusiasm that is sweeping across the Middle East. I hope President Obama will expeditiously support the people of Egypt. My foundations are prepared to contribute what they can. In practice, that means establishing resource centers for supporting the rule of law, constitutional reform, fighting corruption and strengthening democratic institutions in those countries that request help in establishing them, while staying out of those countries where such efforts are not welcome."

It is shocking that someone would side with terrorist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and state that Israel -the only democracy in the Middle East- is the stumbling block to peace in the region.

November 6, 2010

Fox News reports that the Director of CAIR's Oklahoma chapter, Muneer Awad, has filed a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma over the "ballot measure banning state courts from considering Islamic or international law when ruling on cases." There was, however, no mention of Muneer Awad or of his pending lawsuit on the CAIR Oklahoma website at the time of this blog post.

October 26, 2010

As we have discussed on this blog, Israel's 2009 discovery of an historically large natural gas field -called Tamar- off its Haifa coast could position Israel to be energy independent in the near future. Natural gas production sales from the Tamar project is expected to begin in 2012.

In addition to the 8.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas discovered in the Tamar project, drilling has begun at Israel's Leviathan project. Believed to contain a massive 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and possibly nearly 40 million barrels of oil, the Leviathan project is located in the Western Negev near Gaza.

Delek Group CEO, Asaf Bartfeld, said "We may be able to supply the European market and the Far East, where demand is highest. Though, of course, at this point, we are waiting to drill and to try and confirm the gas." Delek Group owns 23% of the Tamar and Leviathan projects.

It will be interesting to see the geo-political implications of Israel's soon-to-be energy independence. Too, it will be exciting to see the Jewish state prosper from being energy independent.

September 12, 2010

The atheist group that put up the billboard is called "Coalition of Reason," which of course is not only their name, but is an insult aimed at theists (i.e. theists are not a coalition of reason).

Nick Singer, coordinator of the Oklahoma City Coalition of Reason, noted the reason why the billboard was erected, "Reaching out to the like-minded isn't the only goal of the effort. 'We also want Oklahomans to know that there are many humanists, agnostics and atheists living here, contributing to the community.'"

If in fact Israel is responsible for the attempt on Ahmadinejad's life and for the explosion at the Iranian plant then this could be the beginning of the next and more deadly phase of the conflict. It will be interesting to see how Iran responds to these incidents.

"I was brought up in the Baptist Church, but during my adult life I've,
you know, found a different path. I'm of course a great respecter of
religious beliefs, but they're not my beliefs."

The piece goes on to say, "Gillard was a studious Christian as a child, winning prizes for
catechism lessons and for memorizing Bible verses. But, she noted,
"I've made decisions in my adult life about my own views."

June 18, 2010

Egyptian Foreign Minister, Aboul Gheit, made an explosive statement on Nile TV in January that is just now making news amongst some in the established media. Nile TV's Facebook page has some interesting discussion about this story.

June 8, 2010

Debkafile has a stunning piece today. According to the Debkafile piece Osama bin Laden has been hiding in Iran for the last 5 years.

The Debkafile piece, states, "Osama bin Laden's hiding place was pinned down for the first time Monday, June 7, by the Kuwaiti Al-Siyassa Monday, June 7, as the mountainous town of Savzevar in the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan, 220 km west of Mashhad. He is said to have lived there under Tehran's protection for the last five years, along with Ayman Al-Zawahiri and five other high-ranking al Qaeda leaders. Debkafile's intelligence sources disclosed Monday night that Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan and his intelligence chiefs are well aware that Bin Laden and Zawahiri are hiding in Iran. The leak to the Kuwait paper was intended to show the Obama administration that the Turkish leader's ties with Iran had grown intense enough for him to be fully in the picture of Iran's secret sanctuary for the authors of the 9/11 attacks on the United States."

Jewish studies expert and Director of the Pasche Institute for Jewish Studies, James Sibley, said, "What we see in the reaction of much of the world in the wake of Israel's enforcement of its blockade of Gaza is what is called the new anti-Semitism. The old anti-Semitism was largely founded on a racial basis, while the new anti-Semitism is politically based. Nevertheless, it is still anti-Semitic in that it is a hatred of Israel simply because it is a Jewish state."

June 1, 2010

The world of atheism is certainly one that has changed or should I say evolved a great deal over the last several years. As long as I can recall atheists routinely were opposed to and outspoken against religion, yet now it seems that atheism has evolved into a religion itself. Actually, atheism has always been a religion just a godless religion because not only is atheism a theological position, but it now has even created a church.

The point is that it is odd to me why atheists are so intent on proselytizing others to their religion. It looks to me like if atheism were true that it shouldn't matter to atheists what anyone else believes much less try to win converts.

May 25, 2010

"An unbeliever, agnostic, atheist, rationalist, or not quite sure; but looking for rational inspiration? mAtheist is a database of over 700 quotes from most of the world's best known freethinkers through the centuries. Dawkins, Ingersoll, Voltaire ... authors, scientists and rationalists who challenged the status quo.
You'll find a random quote at every launch; but for more in-depth study, you can browse through the quotes categorized by author, source, or year.
With mAtheist, you can also manage your own list of favorite quotes for ready reference.
The developer has made every attempt to verify the authenticity of the quote and the accuracy of the data; but if you find errors, please point them out to us so that we can correct them in a future release.
Enjoy and be inspired!"

May 15, 2010

Rosenberg points out that "'The U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Levant Basin Province using a geology based assessment methodology,' stated the report’s executive summary."

This is amazing news! And potentially it could be one day -especially given the current global economy - that Israel could emerge as one of the most stable if not one of the strongest economies in the world, which could be used as an excuse by many to aggressively oppose if not attack Israel.